Will this be pronounced wrong alot

[narnia2025]

I know that in America this name is pronounced differently to over here but when I have mentioned it to people they have asked me which way we would pronounce it which has surprised me as I thought it was exclusively pronounced one way here.

The name is Clara.

I want to pronounce it is clarr-ruh and this is the way I love. But I am genuinely worried people will pronounce it Claira which honestly I don't like at all. What do people think?

To the people who know (or have known) someone whose name was pronounced Clayra, would you default to that for all Claras? I would rhyme it with Tara, Lara and Cara.

No you're wrong. It is commonly pronounced as Claira in the USA, it's not their accent. It used to be said as Claira here too, I had an ancient great aunt (must have been born around 1885) who's name this was. It used to be the standard British pronunciation.

Then over the last 25 years or so the Clah-ra pronunciation (the one the OP wants) became popular here, it fits more with how they say it in continental Europe. Although in Italy say, it's more like Clarra, with a short A.

I actually prefer the old pronunciation, and I think that one sounds softer! But the new way is fine, rhyming with Tara, Zara and Lara.

Only heard it pronounced “Claa-ra” here, to rhyme with Tara.
I think differences are down to accents rather than purposefully pronouncing it differently

I knew a ‘Claire-uh’, spelt Clara (she’d be mid 40s now). To be honest, it always jarred a little. Opposite to your concern OP, everyone assumed she was ‘Clarr-ra’ and she spent her life correcting people.

How do you know? You weren't there.

If you are in the UK it will.be Clar ruh. It just sounds different in an American accent....think of Gone with the Wind It's more like Claaa ra

DD has a Clara age 6 in her class, pronounced to rhyme with Zara and Lara. Unless you’re most of the kids in her class in which has its pronounced Clah-wah.

FWIW, I'm in the USA and in my experience CLARE-uh (rhyming roughly with Sarah) is considered old fashioned (kind of the same effect as Aunt March calling Jo "Josey-pheen" in Little Women), while CLAH-rah or sometimes CLAW-rah (rhyming with Lara or Zara or the usual British pronunciation of Sara) is pretty standard. There may be regional variations, though.

I’ve only known it as PPs have mentioned - Clara/Tara/Lara.

I don’t understand Clarr-uh.

It would be the same here (Scotland). Unless it was spelled Claruh I definitely wouldn't think to say it with a U. I don't think I have ever heard that.

Clar-uh is how it is said in most UK accents. In most UK accents, unstressed vowels tend to sound like uh. if they don't in your accent, just make allowances for it.

Where I'm from, it would be Cla-ra or Clar-uh.

I absolutely love the name Clara! I don't think I've heard it mispronounced often in the UK, so I wouldn't let that stop you if it's the name you like.

I think everyone in the UK will default to the pronunciation you want -- it would be someone pronouncing it 'Clair-ah' who would need to specify she was diverging from the most usual way of saying it.

Yes, the second, unstressed syllable would usually be a schwa -- like the final 'a' in banana, or the 'i' in pencil, or the 'police'. We don't usually say 'poe-leece', it's more 'p'leece'.

Pick something else if you are that worried. And Claire is no harsher in terms of sound than Clara

“Claira” is a strange pronounciation.

It blows my mind that only in Scotland (well I can only speak for my part of Scotland) would all of these letters be pronounced the same. I have never picked up on this, but love the way we all just understand the words despite such different ways of saying them.

It makes me think of the example my TEFL friend uses of poor, pour and paw, which in Scotland are pronounced massively differently to each other.

It’s Lara with a C at the front, the only pronunciation that makes sense to me is Klar-uh.

The Klair-ah pronunciation is illogical to me.

I actually opted not to use Clara because the latter pronunciation irritated me so much. I went with Lara.

They wouldn't only be pronounced the same in Scotland, though. Schwas are pretty widespread! (And obviously exist outside of English, too -- eg the first 'e' in the French 'petit'.)

Shwas are often something TEFL teachers teach their non-native speakers, in order to sound more 'native'. Because often a foreign speaker of English will give an unstressed syllable the pronunciation it would get if it were stressed eg saying 'police' as 'poe-LEECE' with the first syllable rhyming with 'go' or 'hoe' rather than the unstressed 'puh' sound most native speakers would use.

Surely everyone pronounces Clara to rhyme with Tara.

@caringcarer , not everyone. It has two distinct pronunciations - both are
Quite a few names do.
Usually one pronunciation is the dominant one.

Sara can be 'Sa-ra' or 'Sarah', Lois can be 'Loyce' or 'Lo-is' etc.

I don't get how there's an R in the middle of your pronunciation.

I know a few Claras and they are all pronounced Cla-ra exactly as spelled.

Why wouldn't there be an R in Clara?

What does Cla sound like? Cla like in Clarity, Cla like in Clarke?

Yes, with an 'r'!

99.9% of Claras are pronounced the way you want OP.

The Claira pronunciation (which I actually prefer) is very old-fashioned. I've only met one who would be late forties now.

All the babies and preschoolers I've met are pronounced Clara to rhyme with Zara.